bookernothebest

Amicus Horizon have a tenants charter, even if it does feel as if they have never read it themselves most of the time and you have a tenancy agreement so if repairs are not done within a reasonable period of time or if they are done badly, Which they often are then you probably are entitled to compensation from either Amicus Horizon or the contractor or even both in some cases.

Will you get it?

The answer to that one is a bit of a grey area if it`s a fiver then you will probably get at least some of it. If it`s a thousand then you will have to fight for it but the fight is worthwhile and if you care at all about your local area or the quality of service that is available to everyone in it then it all very quickly becomes a very worthwhile cause because everytime you fight Win or Lose you put pressure on both Amicus Horizon and their contractors to provide better, quicker, safer and more reliable services.

The repair service being operated by Amicus Horizon at present is dismal. The once reliable direct line to Booker and Best is gone and now the 121 60 60 number is a mess. Even if you are lucky enough to get through to someone who is actually interested you are left feeling that you have interrupted someone in the middle of a film or something and the advice given is sometimes unsafe so its best not to assume that you are talking to an expert because you definitely are not.

Once again that old question that we get asked so often.
How come you can say things like this and not get evicted?

The answer to that one is simples we recently had cause to need the repair service and when we realised that we were unlikely to get it we did what we always do in our dealings with this unreliable landlord we taped everything and took photographs and made video`s so even though we are now at the usual stage where Amicus Horizon are backtracking we don`t care because we have an undisputable record of almost everything that has occurred.

Our landlord Amicus Horizon said to us:

You are definitely entitled to compensation. Darren Goodsell.

We will get all of these repairs completed within 16 days: 24th/06/2009

24th/08/2009 still waiting.
27th May 2010 still waiting!

We will give you compensation.

We have let you down badly. Darren Goodsell.

We agree completely that we have put you and your family at risk. Darren Goodsell.

We agree that our installation is dangerous. Darren Goodsell.

We agree that the work is terrible. Darren Goodsell

We agree that we broke building regulations. Darren Goodsell.

We think that we should give you compensation but we doubt that you will get what you should. Not from this company. Darren Goodsell.

We will give you our decision by the 21st/07/2009
23rd/07/2009 we will not give you compensation we deny that you are entitled to anything. Darren Goodsell.

Booker and Best said to us:

We agree that we have done wrong.

We agree that the work completed is dangerous and not up to standard but we are not responsible for delays or misunderstandings caused by the lack of efficiency within Amicus Horizon.

Booker and Best were obviously very unsure as to whether or not they had breached building regulations and/or fire safety regulations but the work they carried out shows that they were happy to do so and it is disturbing that they are not familiar with either.

Let us put things right. We`ll be back on 22nd/07/2009 to do it all properly
We`ll let you know if and when they do.
23rd/07/2009 have not heard from Booker and Best.

There is nothing worse than being proved a liar when you are telling the truth to avoid that situation
You need to

Keep itemised phone bills because their first excuse is that they will say that you have never contacted them about any problems or they have no records.
Your phone bill will prove when you called, how often you called and how long each call lasted. If you have an internet phone or iphone record the calls.

Keep all letters regarding any incident or repair and keep all order forms which show details of any work that needs doing.

Never assume that your housing manager or anyone at Amicus Horizon is your friend because they are not and judging by our own experiences and those of everyone who has ever contacted us you will definitely regret placing your trust in them because regardless of your problem/damage or injury they will protect their employer rather than help you.

Take photo`s of everything. If you don`t have a camera use your phone. Video footage is even better.

If in doubt check! do not assume that your landlord or your repairer is familiar with building/safety regulations or that they even care.

Read your tenancy agreement and if you are asked to sign a new one refuse or get advice because they usually only change these things when they have lost to someone else.

We have made a videotape and compiled a set of photographs and included full documentation which we are going to send to Lord Falconer to see if he has the power or the inclination to change anything. We will post some of these on youtube and embed them on this site and our other friends sites. You can give support us by doing the same, we have promises of support from over 100 friends on friendscirles alone. We are sending the same dossier to our solicitors. We did not complain in order to win compensation we complained because we were left without water for over a week. (that is if you discount the water that was dripping from the ceilings) and we were left without a bathroom or toilet for almost two weeks. Amicus Horizon were two years late on one repair, three months late on another that was then done in such a shabby way that it was/is a real danger to anyone using it.

We are not going to all of the trouble of taking them to court in order to win money we are taking these actions because we want Amicus Horizon to give us the same repair service that they would expect themselves.
We have shown you past emails from Booker and Best employees to 1066 housing staff regarding repairs just because we are in rented housing that does,nt mean we have to put up with this kind of mistreatment.
Remember also that Amicus Horizon claims charity status so everytime they pay for a bodged repair they are wasting money that could/should be used to improve their services or supply further housing and the same applies everytime they fake their complaints procedure.

Amicus Horizon have now on three occasions accepted liability for our damages but I doubt that any of that will expedite matters because they assume that us poor tenants are all ignorant and can`t count from one to three but as this goes on we`ll show the lies and the truth and you will see why it has become so important for all of us to keep all correspondence from our landlord and to take photographs and video`s because when they make a mistake they will be calling you the liar!

Disabled? Your Rights Click Here

Rother District Council
and
Booker and Best

The Council's best efforts have not achieved a truly competitive bid or managed to contain costs as it would wish. Negotiations with Booker and Best have seen contract costs increase by 37.5% over two years (30% plus 7.5%) excluding RPIX linked costs.

It was envisaged that Booker and Best would offer Rother District Council access to a wide range of trades including carpentry, painting/decorating, brick laying, plumbing and electrical.

In reality there have been some concerns about the ability of the contractor to provide this range of trades to an acceptable quality, response time or at a competitive rate. To ensure that work is completed Council officers have also needed to commission other contractors.

The current method of working with Booker and Best has not seen an improvement in response times or quality of work. This has been most noticeable during the later part of 2007.

The need to use contractors other than Booker and Best to get a more rapid response or better quality of work has been highlighted in an internal audit report. It is difficult to provide evidence of value for money on orders placed to external contractors under the £5,000 threshold. The contract with Booker and Best has provision for a minimum payment per work item and also a standard charge for call out. At £35 and £50 respectively this is considered to be the maximum acceptable cost for such work.

Having considered the Council's recent history of tendering for this service and the limitations of the current assigned contractor (Booker and Best) there are limited options to ensure provision of this service.

Initial investigations with our neighbouring authorities have failed to gain enthusiasm with their contractors. Hastings currently use Booker and Best and Eastbourne contractors do not wish to have rural Rother and Rye within their contract area.

Director of Services
Risk Assessment Statement
It is likely that the performance of Booker and Best will continue to give concern and require a high level of client management.

Despite client efforts to effectively manage the contract and ensure an efficient responsive repairs service Booker and Best regularly fail to achieve good performance standards. Non-urgent minor repairs remain outstanding for excessive periods of time and the cost to the Council in terms of management effort and one-off alternate quotes for such work is increasingly expensive.